Important factors that impact production (holidays/ vacations/ CE)
Coming in off of the holiday season with many people taking vacations can have some practice owners feeling a little upside down when it comes to the impact these factors have on their production. We get that and we want you to start prepping for this year’s hurdles now!
Here are some items I’d love for you to already have noted in the schedule for pre-planning:
- Holidays that you’ll be observing as a company
- Vacations that you will be taking
- CE’s that you will be attending
We like our doctors to go into every year knowing those pieces of information read above. If you’re a seasoned DAT practice you likely already have those things noted! Congrats to you if you said “yep! I’ve got that!”; and if you didn’t, that’s OK! Work on it today, don’t wait any longer!
Impacts that are a little more difficult to plan for will likely come from your team. Let’s face it, they have lives outside of the practice that impact their time at the practice and we don’t always have control over what that time looks like. Things like illnesses, family vacations, pregnancies/ maternity leave, bereavement, etc. can throw wrenches into even the best laid plans.
Alas, we have some ideas to help you get through the stressful times and turn that stress into ease!
When you pre-plan your own holidays, vacations, CE, etc. this allows you the opportunity to truly see what your production goals can be based on your provider time available. I encourage you to do the same thing with any providers in your practice, both doctor associates and hygienists! Heck, even do this for any EFDA’s whom you rely on for a column of dentistry! Think: who brings production into the practice? For those employees you want to plan as much as you can!
PRO TIP: Use our production projection tools to help!
Build your goals based on what you KNOW. Find areas to stack extra production, considering months that are typically slower. For example, pediatric practices often have high production during breaks and summer. Ensure all team members are ready to work those months to avoid falling behind.
If someone plans to take time off, develop a coverage plan now to keep operations smooth. In areas with snow days in February, pad January and March with extra production goals to alleviate stress (and celebrate when you exceed expectations!).
Holidays, vacations, CE, illnesses, maternity … all of them, no matter what the position is in your practice, will impact your goals; production, collections, new patients, all of them! In one way or another there will be system breakdowns, slow times and unforeseen circumstances. Taking the time now to prep, plan and pad months as best you possibly can will create a space of ease that you can roll through the rest of year with!
What will you do now to create that space for yourself?
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